After Alpha Academy came up short in its quest to win the World Tag Team titles Monday on Raw, Akira Tozawa offered an uplifting message to his team and its fans.
“Let’s go chase another opportunity together again,” Tozawa wrote in a post on X, posing for a picture with his partner, Otis. “I’m always grateful for you guys. Love you all so much!”
While the sentiment
is admirable, the reality is it’s over for Alpha Academy. Their loss reminded me of what ’90s wrestling star Paul Roma told me when his Power & Glory team with strongman Hercules Hernandez began to sputter: “You beat the big guy? You beat the team.”
The Usos secured the win after pinning Otis following 1-D. Before that, Tozawa kept Alpha Academy alive — diving onto the Usos, mocking Jey by “running it back” between dives, and nearly scoring a pin after a flying senton.
Otis had his moments, running through the twins late and landing a World’s Strongest Slam. Still, when the game was on the line, it was Otis — the foundation of the team — who took the pin. That, as Roma noted, is the death knell for any big man–little man combo, which he likened to a house: “If you lose the foundation, the foundation cracks, the house is going to crumble.”
Sadly, the writing has been on the wall for Otis since last summer. During AAA’s Triplemanía XXXIII’s Copa Bardahl, he was pinned by the 3-foot, 60-pound Micro Man after taking a boot from Omos. Even with the context, a 300-pound bulldozer losing to a tiny wrestler was a bad look — one he’s unlikely to recover from.
And as Otis goes, so goes Alpha Academy.
